Publication date December 11, 2023

The Unexpected Billie Eilish Coming Out: "I Thought It Was Obvious"

On Saturday, The Bad Guy singer confirmed that she recently came out in her Variety Power of Women cover story, in which she first exposed her attraction to women.

Source: Variety

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Billie Eilish recently revealed that she didn’t intend to come out publicly after saying in an interview with Variety last month that she is physically attracted to women. She attended Variety’s Hitmakers event on Saturday, where a reporter asked her if she was meant to come out during her recent interview. She exposed that she didn’t intend to make a grand gesture of “coming out.”

Eilish said, “No I didn’t”, But I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious’? I didn’t realize people didn’t know. I just don’t believe in it. I’m just like, ‘ ‘Why can’t we just exist’? I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops.” “But I saw the article, and I was like, ‘Oh I guess I came out today.’ OK cool. It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, but it’s cool that they know.” She added: “I am for the girls,” Eilish added.

After her interview with Variety and speculation about her sexuality, she made it clear that she didn’t intend to come out. After people speculated about her sexuality she asked to stop discussing her sexuality as she accused a magazine of “outing” her.

If we talk about the exact words that Billie said during her interview with Variety, the singer spoke about her feelings for women telling Variety’s Katcy Stephan, “I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very much. I love them so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real.”

She continued saying, “I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life, I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”

Source: BBC

Aside from this, Billie received the award for the Film Song of the Year alongside her brother Finneas for “What Was I Made For,” featured in the summer blockbuster “Barbie.” Variety’s senior producer Tiana Denicola asked her point of view on how other women feel about her has changed after the publication of the story. Billie replied, “I’m still scared of them, but I think they’re pretty!”

How People Reacted to Billie Eilish Coming Out

Even though Billie appeared upbeat during the red carpet chat on Saturday, interestingly, her Instagram didn’t appear that chilled, where she wrote, "Thanks, Variety for my award and also outing me on a red carpet at 11 am instead of talking to me about anything else that matters, "I like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares."

Individuals opposed to LGBTQ+ rights who followed Eilish came with criticism after her disclosure with Eilish witnessing an initial drop of almost 10,000 followers on the very day of her revelation. She further lost 75,000 followers the next day and nearly 50,000 the following Monday, bringing the total decline to over 135,000.

Source: Instagram

After the Variety article about Billie Eilish’s coming out was released, speculation over Billie’s sexuality came up on social media, though the singer has not used any official label yet. She confirmed in her Variety interview in November that she has faced a great deal of scrutiny surrounding her sexuality and dating history, which she said has been 'upsetting'.

If you didn’t know already the singer was last associated with Jesse Rutherford of the band The Neighbourhood in October 2022. After eight months of dating, in 2023 a source confirmed to People that the two had split between May, but stated they 'remain good friends'.

But Why Does a Celebrity's Sexuality Still Matter?

Billie Eilish has become an even more powerful voice for the LGBTQ+ community and has rightfully questioned why sexuality matters in the 21st century. Her open embrace of her identity inspires countless individuals, reminding us that love and acceptance should know no bounds.

Source: Ladun Liadi Blog

Lauren Moss, an LGBT and Identity Correspondent, unraveled the tangled web of societal influences that shape our perceptions of sexuality and identity. She said the real talking point here isn’t about what someone's sexuality is but like Billie says, why it even matters in the 21st Century.

She continued by stating that in the last two decades, we’ve moved on from salacious gossip poking into people's private lives, like when pop star Will Young spoke about being forced out in 2002, but in reality, even last year actor Rebel Wilson told the world she was dating a woman before a newspaper did it for her.

On the whole, these days being LGBTQ+ can be something to be proud of and celebrated but it's still something deeply personal and totally up to individuals if they want to tell it to the world.

Unfortunately, there are still many fields where people may not feel confident talking about their sexuality, for example, there is still only one openly gay professional footballer in the men's team in England.

Seriously, coming out about one sexuality isn’t something that’s done just one time either, of course, it can be a daily event. Maybe the more people will talk about it, the less interesting this sexuality topic will be and we can just exist, like Billie Eilish says. That’s why I do not doubt that many people will find Billie’s honesty and courage inspiring and be another step that allows people just to be who they are in real.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. When did Billie Eilish come out?

On Saturday, Dec 2, in a red carpet interview at the Variety Hitmakers Brunch, Billie Eilish again confirmed that she’s part of the LGBTQ community, just a couple of weeks later she first told Variety that she’s ‘physically attracted to women’ in her November cover story.

Q. What did Billie come out as?

Billie Eilish hasn't specifically stated an exact label for her sexuality, however, she has spoken openly about being attracted to women, and identifying as “queer”. The singer has also expressed discomfort with labels for her sexuality and prefers to focus on her music and artistry rather than defining her identity by any specific term.

Q. What is Billie Eilish's No. 1 song?

“Bad Guy” is Billie Eilish’s number-one song, with this song she becomes the first artist born in the 21st century and the third Gen Z artist to have a number-one song in the Hot 100, and the first to have a number-one album on the Billboard 200.